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Jn&tiiut^ 4 Jamaica. *1 

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I — 

rOPFLAE LECTURES. 

I 



T H I K/ D SE.BIBS, 



THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE, 



t 

BY 



REV. W. GRIFFITH, 



DELIVERED 6th MAY, 1884. i<j. 

t 

| " t 

His Honor the CtTSTOS, in the Chair. | 

1 




i 

MORTIMER C. DeSOUZA, PRINTER, j 

7, Church St., Kingston. ^|» 

flte 

1884. 




INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA. 



POPULAR LECTURES. 



THIED SERIES, 



r 

REV, W. GRIFFITH. 



DELIVERED 6th MAY, 1884. 



His Honor the CUSTOS, in the Chair, 



MORTIMER C. DeSOUZA, PRINTER, 
7, Church St., Kingston. 



1884. 



^> 



>87 






u3 



| Institute of Ja/vlaica. 



^ 



THE VINE AND ITS CI7LTUEE. 



The vine and its chief product, wine, hold a prominent 
place in sacred and proiane history. Beyond every other 
natural production, wine took the first hold upon the personal, 
social, national and religious life of every ancient people. It 
was the only article of constant use that was legislated for, or 
against, and with corn and the olive held for ages the proud 
position of one of the three staples of life. There can be no 
question that the vine was known to the Antediluvians and it 
is equally probable that its cultivation was one of the few 
occupations regularly followed by them. The inspired record 
gives countenance to this view in the first mention made of 
the vine and wine. One of Noah's first acts after the 
Deluge was to " plant a vineyard" and "drink of the wine" 
and " become drunken." It is just possible that the sin of 
drunkenness was one element in the wickedness of tho men 
before the flood. There is an added interest to this first refer- 
ence to the vine and wine, in the fact that to this day the 
forests of Armenia, the district of Ararat, extending to the 
Caucasus, are celebrated for their vines, which grow wild 
throughout the whole region. The bunches are enormously 
large, and the quality of the fruit unsurpassed. The fact that 
no apparent signs of degeneracy appear makes it highly proba- 
ble that this is the native home of the vine. Of course, on this 
point nothing is, or can be, certainly known. From the time 
that Noah planted his vineyard, every heathen nation seems to 
have contended for the honour of being the original 
distributor of the vine and its benefits. The Egyptian gave 
the palm to Osiris ; the ancient Italian to Saturn ; whilst the 



4 THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 

Greek shouted for Bacchus, who is said to have brought the 
goodly plant from Arabia the Happy. There is no room for 
question that every nation was soon in possession of the vine 
and of the art Gf transforming the luscious contents of its glo- 
rious clusters into very potent wine. When Melchizidek met 
Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, he set 
before him bread and wine. Lot was twice overcome by its 
use, and made drunken, and it would seem that Jacob used it to 
prevent detection in his successful attempt to obtain his father's 
blessing. The fact that the prohibition against the use by the 
officiating priests, of wine, was issued immediately after the 
sin and deaths of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, makes it very 
probable that the rash conduct,which for them ended so terribly* 
was enacted under the influence of too much wine. Some have 
doubted whether Egypt ever was, or can be, a wine producing 
country, from the fact that wine-yielding grapes do not thrive 
in rich alluvial soils. The dream of Pharaoh's chief butler in 
which the three vine branches blossomed and bore ripe clusters 
which he pressed into Pharaoh's cup and gave into Pharaoh's 
hand, may be accepted as proof that the vine was known to him, 
and that he had been accustomed so to prepare the grape for 
the king's use. Representations of the vine, the vintage, the 
gathering of the fruit and the preparation of wine by the use 
of presses, are all to be found on the paintings discovered on 
ancient Egyptian tombs. The Jews would seem to have had 
some knowledge of the vine and its uses during their involun- 
tary sojourn in the land, for we find them complaining that in 
the desert there was no fig, no pomegranate, no vine. When 
therefore the spies returned bearing with them the marvellous 
bunch from Eshcol, the object must have been not to reveal a 
new friend, but to re-introduce an old one of goodlier propor- 
tions. And when we find (later on) Joshua enumerating in the 
list of their blessings, in the land to which God had brought 
them " vineyards which ye planted not," it is not straining 
the sense to infer that they had previously eaten of vineyards 
which they had planted. Amongst the Jews, vines were not 
fruited under three years, and the crop of the fourth year was 
the Lord's. Vinedressers were, in time of war, exempt from 
military service. The use of wine entered largely into the 
ceremonial worship of the Jews; and in the religious teaching 
of both the Old and New Testament, there are constant allu- 
sions to it and to the vine, with which we all are more or less 
familiar. 



THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 5 

In the far off times of which. Homer sang, the vine and 
the vintage held a front place. In the description of the shield 
of Achilles, he says : — 

There also laden with its fruit he formed 

A vineyard all of gold ; purple he made 

The clusters, and the vines supported stood 

By poles of silver, set in even rows. 

The trench he coloured sable, and around 

Fenced it with tin. One only path is showed, 

By which the gatherers when they stripped the vine, 

Passed and repassed. There,, youths and maidens blithe 

In pails of wicker bore the luscious fruit, 

While in the midst, a boy on his shrill harp 

Harmonious played ; and ever as he struck 

The chord, sang to it with a slender voice. 

They smote the ground together, and with song 

And sprightly reed came dancing on behind. 

Whilst the picture of the garden of Alcinus shows that 
the cultivation of the vine was followed at times, very largely 
and in a systematic manner. 

Close to the gates a spacious garden lies 
From storms defended and inclement skies. 
Four acres was the allotted space of ground. 
Fenced with a green enclosure all around. 
Here ordered vines in equal ranks appear, 
With all the united labours of the year ; 
Some to unload the fertile branches run, 
Some dry the blackening clusters in the sun ; 
Others to tread the liquid harvest join, 
The groaning presses foam with floods of wine ; 
Here are the vines in early flower descry'd, 
Here grapes discoloured on the sunny side, 
And there in Autumn's richest purple dy'd. 

So far as I can learn, there is no classic allusion to the 
fruit of the vine in which reference is made to white or yellow 
grapes, when colour is referred to, it is invariably black, red or 
purple. It may be that the former are the results of cultiva- 
tion in later times. 

Only one recognized sj)ecies of vine is indigenous to the 
Eastern Hemisphere, the "vitis vinifera," of which all the 
European, Asiatic, South African and Australasian vines are 
varieties. It is impossible to give any idea as to the number of 
varieties now recognized and in cultivation, the Black 
Hamburg being known under nearly twenty different names. 



6 THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 

Miller, in 1768, describes 18 varieties. Speeclily, of Welbcck* 
in 1791, describes 50. In 1831 the Horticultural Society's 
Fruit Catalogue contained 182 names. In France, they count 
their varieties by the score of hundreds ; fourteen hundred 
kinds being at one time cultivated in the gardens of the 
Luxembourg. Every season, so called new varieties make 
their appearance, and now and again one is found worthy 
of taking rank with varieties of established repute. The 
English grapes grown under glass, take the first rank, against 
the whole world, as a dessert fruit ; Grapes are of all 
sizes from that of a pea to a pigeon's egg. There is an equal 
diversity of colour. Almost every known shade of colour, 
having its representative. There is equal diversity found in 
the character of their fruit ; some are harsh and sour, others 
mild and sweet, and others charged with an aroma so delicate 
as to scent the atmosphere. So with the wines made from 
them. — Some, " the best vintages of France are bright and 
" sparkling ; others are sound and substantial, as those of 
" Spain and Portugal, and others again are flat, stale and un- 
" profitable, as the ' Yin du Sureni/ of which the proverb goes 
" that there must be three persons to drink a glass of it, to wit, 
" the unfortunate patient, one friend to support him, and 
" another to hold his nose during the operation." 

The European varieties are commonly classified as " Mus- 
cats" and " Sweetwaters." These terms explain themselves. 
As a rule the Muscats require a longer time and a greater heat 
to ripen, and in England they never find them to do well in the 
same house with the Sweetwaters. For the same reason it is 
found here that the black and white will not both do well on the 
same arbour. All our Jamaican white grapes are Muscats — 
the black grape of which we have several varieties, are all 
Sweetwaters. 

Among the Muscats the best coloured varieties are the 
black, red and grizzly Frontignans. These bear compact bunches, 
long and cylindrical in shape, frequently with one large 
shoulder. Berries are below medium size, skin thin, with a 
thick bloom, and the flesh firm, of a reddish tinge with a rich- 
Muscat flavour. Madresfield Court, a variety raised by crossing 
Muscat of Alexandria with black Morocco is one of the finest 
black grapes grown. Both bunches and berries are very large 
and extremely handsome, the fruit tender, sweet and rich. 
It is now very largely grown for the London market. Amongst 
the White Muscats, there are many splendid varieties, but not 



Tllfe VIJJE AND ITS CtJLTUrifr. * 

-olio to approach tlie White Muscat of Alexandria; As this grape* 
only conies to perfection when it has plenty of heat its suc- 
cessful cultivation in and about Kingston ought to be an easy 
matter. As a rule all Muscats require a good heat. 

At the head of the second class stands the Black Ham- 
burg. It is one of the most prolific grapes and easy to culti- 
vate! It was originally brought to England from Hamburg 
in the early part of the last century by a Mr. John Warner. 
At the present day no grape is so extensively _ grown or so 
Generally esteemed for its many admirable qualities. There are 
many remarkable vines in England of this Variety. One at 
Cumberland Lodge, in Windsor Park, fills a house 140 feet 
lono- by 20 feet wide. Its trunk is 3 feet 8 inches in girth. 
£he crop of grapes in 1879 was 2,000 bunches and weighed 
1,500 lbs., an average of fib. per bunch. 

The great vine at Hampton Court is of this variety. It 
is probably the best known vine in existence. It is over 100 
years old, nor is its natural force abated. Its annual yield 
of grapes is about 2,000 lbs. 

At Sillwood Park, near Ascot, a vine, a cutting from the 
one at Windsor, covers 150 sq. yards and fruits regularly Over 
this extensive surface, and another at Breadalbane, Scotland, 
covers 475 yards and annually matures large crops of fine fruit. 
Occasionally, mammoth bunches of this variety have been 
produced. We give a list of some of these : — 

1858— Mr. Davis, Oakhill, 8ilbs, 4J in. circum. 
I860— Mr. Raynes, Chelmsford, 8|lb. 
1865— Mr. Meredith, Garston, Liverpool, 9|lb. 
1874— Mr. Hunter, Lambton Castle, 211b. 12oz. 
1875— ,> „ Manchester, 131b. 2oz. 

There are many excellent white grapes amongst the 
Sweetwaters, and as they take less heat than the Muscats, we 
think that it is amongst this class that the grape to suit our 
mountains will have to be looked for. I believe it is now 
generally acknowledged that plantsfrom vines doing well in the 
city usually do not do well in the hills. I think it also very 
likely that the wide extremes of temperature between mid-day 
and midnight may have an injurious influence upon the plants. 
If this conjectured Correct, it might have a good effect to try 
the vine in a favourable situation, covering the space around, 
above the roots with dark stones, so as to absorb sun-heat m 
the day and keep the roots warm at night. 



8 THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 

Some cultivators would form a third classification, viz : 
the Vinous. In this they would include grapes that are usu- 
ally slow in maturing, have generally thick skins, a fleshy 
pulp and when properly ripe, have a marked vinous flavour. 
This class includes such grapes as the black Barbarossa, the 
bunches of which are at times exceedingly large, some as long 
as24inches. In 1877, Mr. Roberts, Charlieville Forest, Ireland, 
produced a bunch weighing 231bs. 5oz. West's St. Peter 
is another variety ; the fruit keeps from September until the 
following March — a splendid grapef or invalids. Lady l)owne's 
Seedling raised in 1835 one of the best grapes in cultivation. 
Another seedling raised at the same time from seed from the 
same cluster is one of the best white grapes. The white 
grapes in this class are chiefly prized for exhibition purposes 
rather than for high quality. In the latter part of the last 
century, Mr. Speechly grew at Welbeck, the seat of the Duke 
of Portland, a bunch of the White Syrian that weighed 191bs., 
its length was 23 inches and 4 feet 6 inches round. His lordship 
sent it as a present to the Marquis of Rockingham. Four men 
carried it after the manner of the spies, twenty miles, on a pole. 
This variety is also known as the Raisin de la Palestine and is 
currently supposed to be a descendant of the Eshcol varieties. 
Bunches have been grown on the White Nice that weighed 
251bs ; but all these were surpassed when Mr. Currer, of Esk- 
bank, exhibited in 1875, at Edinburgh, a bunch of the Treb- 
biana weighing 2Glbs 4oz. Facts such as these make it 
easier to believe the tales of travellers from the East who 
write of clusters of grapes three feet long furnishing supper 
for a whole family, the single berries of which were a good 
mouthful. 

Of American grapes there are several native varieties. 
The Vitis Labrusco, or Fox grape, takes the lead. The Cat- 
awba, Concord, Isabella and many others, belong to this spe- 
cies. A very remarkable variety of the Vitis Rotundif olio is 
grown in the South. It will not grow in the North. It is 
said to grow in any soil or situation fruiting always on the 
old wood — never on the new ; is free from disease either in 
wood, leaf or berry ; ripens its fruit in the open air in three 
months ; the clusters are small— never more than twenty ber- 
ries, but at times only two, from f to 1 J in. diameter. No 
known vine bears so heavily. One near Mobile is said to have 
borne in one season 250 bushels of fruit. Ten-year old vines 
trained on the extension system often give thirty bushels. 



THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 9 

Birds or insects do not destroy the fruit, and when fully ripe^ 
the air is laden with the aroma. From the fact mentioned 
already that this vine will not grow north I have failed to se- 
cure a plant of it. It should do well with us, and if some citi- 
zen of public spirit (and private means) would introduce a 
supply he might perform a public duty as well as confer a 
general benefit. It would be worth a trial. 

The geographical distribution of the vine places it amongst 
the plants of the temperate zone though not every place in 
that zone is adapted to its cultivation in the open air. It is 
found on the Continent and in Asia within an area the north- 
ern boundary of which extends from the British Channel 
through north Germany, north of the Black and Caspian Seas 
to China. In France, the northern limit advances from 47J 
N. L. on the coast to 51 at the junction of the Moselle with 
the Rhine. In Germany, it reaches in isolated places as high 
as 55, falling in Hungary to 49, and on the Caspian Sea it is 
down to 46. Madeira and Teneriffe received their vines from 
Crete. Dutchmen carried the vine to the Cape. Swiss emigrants 
took it to America, and South America owes its vines to the Span- 
iard. In North Switzerland it thrives 1,700 feet above the sea 
level and on the southern slopes of the Alps it is found at 2,000 
feet. On the Appenines and in Teneriffe it is cultivated at a 
height of nearly 3,000 feet, while in the Himalayan Mountains it 
does well 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. During the last 
half century grape culture and wine making have made enor- 
mous strides in new countries. Already the vine crop of 
California exceeds in value the produce of her gold mines. 
Her vineyards cover many thousands of acres. In South 
Africa the vine growers are now sending into the market a 
wine, the Bed and White Constantia, that takes rank with the 
best productions of France and Germany. This particular 
wine is the produce of two estates lying on the East and North- 
east slopes of Table Mountain, twelve miles from Cape Town, 
known as Great and Little Constantia. Repeated attempts to 
produce a similar wine have been made on adjacent properties, 
and also in France, but all have proved utter failures. The 
soil of these properties is specially rich in alkalies, and the lo- 
cality so sheltered as to be preserved from sudden or excessive 
alternations of temperature. 

Everyone has heard of the extensive vineyards already 
established, and being established in Australia. There the 



10 THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 

method followed was to bury long cuttings in the soil foi* 
•about one-half their length, and leave the rest to nature. As 
a fertilizer the Australians use only* or mainly, broken bones; 

There is perhaps no plant that is so much affected by change 
of soil and climate as the vine, even when every possible pre- 
caution is taken to ensure for it congenial surroundings. One 
grape which grows on the fthine furnishes a "Hock." In the 
Valley of the Tagus this same grape produces "Bucellas," and 
transferred to Madeira it yields a wine known as "Sereial," 
the three wines having scarcely an attribute in common. 

It is a fact that has been long well recognized that the best 
English grapes lose many of their best qualities when taken 
to America, It becomes in vieto of this fact matter <f doubtful 
wisdom to import English varieties front America. This fact 
may also help to explain the reason why the Black Hamburg 
never reaches with us that perfection of colouring, beauty of 
form* and delicacy of flavour, so eminently characteristic of it 
when grown in our hot-houses at home. If instead of being 
cut as soon as the clusters colour and the berries become 
sweet* they were bagged to keep away birds and insects and 
allowed to hang a couple of months, or so long as the weather 
continued dry and warm, the improvement in quality would 
be considerable, and this excellent grape would take the posi- 
tion with us here to which its many good qualities fairly en- 
title it. 

The Black Corinth, the vine which produces the well 
known "Currants" of commerce, is a true grape cultivated in 
the Ionian Islands and the Morea. The whole of these islands 
have a superficial area somewhat less than the whole of Ja- 
maica* They are of volcanic origin and the vines grow on the 
hills in a thin soil composed largely of decomposed volcanic 
rock> They are grown without any mechanical support as low 
bushes* and the ripe fruit when gathered is dried on the 
ground. In good years the total yield sometimes reaches the 
enormous quantity of 75,000 tons of dried currants, besides 
about 150,000 barrels of wine. This variety when introduced in- 
to Sicily and Malta produced ordinary grapes, indeed, they wore 
Very ordinary, but in Spain it could never be got to grow at all. 
Numbers of the best vines of France and Germany were ex- 
ported to Australia, but none ever succeeded ■ whilst those' 
taken from the South of Spain turned out excellently well. 

Dr. Dcnman in his work, "The Vine audits Fruit," says, 
"No attempt hitherto made to transport a particular species 



"THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE* 11 

k> another country has ever been attended with such a nlea^ 
sure of success as to reproduce in the new site precisely the 
same distinctive properties that signalized it in the old* 
Whatever care may be bestowed to select an identity of nutri- 
tion, aspect and climate, the grape on removal loses its former 
special and peculiar attributes . . . . The wines of Bur- 
gundy and the Garonne take their names respectively from 
circumscribed spots ; and so narrow and seemingly capricious 
are their several limits, that a ditch divides portions whose 
produce from time immemorial has been sought with avidity, 
from others that uniformly bring but one-fifth the price of 
their more favoured neighbour .... Art and science 
heve been exerted to extend the bounds thus prescribed by 
nature with results but little satisfactory; for the choicest 
wines of any known vineyard have never been produced be- 
yond it ... . Hence, it is manifest that it is not more 
owing to the species of plant than it is to the character and 
quality of the soil and climate where the grape is grown that 
wines are indebted for their peculiarities of flavour, fragrance 
and general excellence." 

The " Muscatel" or " bloom" raisin, the choicest dessert 
fruit grown, is the produce of a narrow strip of country in the 
South of Spain in the suburbs of Malaga, the chief town 
of a province of the same name. All attempts to produce them 
elsewhere have proved abortive. The average annual produc- 
tion is nearly 2\ millions of boxes of about 201b. each. Fully 
one-half of these go to America where the consumption of all 
kinds of fruit, green and dried, is enormous ; an import duty 
of 2| cents per pound having no perceptible influence upon 
the consumption. 

Time would fail us to tell all the minor uses which the 
vine and its products are put to. Oil is pressed from the dried 
geec l s — vinegar is made from the green shoots. _ The pulped 
leaves are valuable as a poultice under certain circumstances. 
Tea made from the dried leaves is supposed to have a benefi- 
cial effect when drunk by tired brain workers, and almost 
everyone has heard of the wonders wrought in the cure of 
cancer, consumption, and other kindred diseases by what is 
now known as the " Grape Cure." 

A vine consists of an aggregation of nodes or joints. ^ In 
the green shoot these are plainly visible and easily separable into 
parts of from two to five inches in length. In a mature cane these 
nodes are still distinguishable ; but the woody fibres of the vine 



12 THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 

having run through, a cutting implement is required to sepa- 
rate them. In old wood the node is not visible to the naked 
eye, the roughened bark rendering it undiscernible. Let the 
vine, however, be cut back to this old wood and its position is 
soon indicated by the growth of a shoot, which if allowed to 
do so, makes in a few months a cane capable of yielding 
fruit. It is on this node or joint that all the organs of the 
vine show themselves, viz., the leaf, the tendril or cluster, 
the laterals and the dormant or fruiting bud. 

The leaf is connected to the stem by a joint at the base of 
the leaf stalk. It may be easily broken or blown off — a con- 
tingency that suggests the desirability of tying down all young 
growth as soon as it can be done without injury to the shoot. 
At the end of the season the leaf falls from the vine. In the 
axil of the leaf there are always one or two buds. Sometimes, 
not always, one of these will push early. This is called the 
"lateral." Leaf and stem are usually very small and slender. 
The purpose these minor shoots are intended to serve is an im- 
portant one and they must not be removed. Close to it, on 
the under side, another bud will form ; the so-called dormant 
bud. It is the duty of the leaf to render this bud capable the 
following season of furnishing a green shoot consisting of a simi- 
lar series of nodes to that on which itself grew and similarly 
furnished with tendrils, buds and leaf appendages. If the 
leaf be accidentally or intentionally removed before this pro- 
cess is completed no such bud will be formed, and if a series of 
leaves be removed, the length of stem so denuded, will not de- 
velope into a ripe cane although both above and below where 
the leaves remain good cane will be formed. 

It is the special province of the lateral to keep the second 
bud dormant during the first season. Whenever it is removed 
the dormant bud pushes, and if the period of development is 
incomplete only a green shoot destitute of fruit appears and at 
its base another bud begins to form. The following season 
when the canes are pruned for fruit, it is needful to remove 
carefully the whole of the laterals ; as, if any portion be left, 
it will surely grow first, and may be all that will grow. 
On many nodes the laterals may not have shown — they 
are there nevertheless and should at the time of pruning be 
sought for and rubbed off. On very gross growing vines I 
have seen the leading shoot stopped and the laterals permitted 
to grow unchecked during the first season, when being cut 
back to spurs, they have borne heavily. With vines that are 



THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE* 13 

constitutionally Vigorous growers, this plan will often give 
fruit when every other fails. On the same node, but on the 
opposite side, is the tendril or cluster. Unlike the leaf , this 
organ is not articulated ; but is a continuation of the stcnij the 
Woody fibres running through. At the end of the season it 
dries and gradually perishes* The tensile strength of this 
organ is very great. When well developed and attached to 
any firm unyielding body it requires great force to detach it. 
Tendril and cluster are identical — two never grow together on 
one node, but tendrils are sometimes seen showing bits of 
bloom, and clusters are sometimes seen with portions of ten- 
drils destitute of fruit. The difference is one of degree, not of 
kind, the tendril being an imperfectly developed cluster. 
This view is borne out by the fact that a tendril is never seen 
before the bloom but always after it. 

A shoot may bear any number of clusters— more than 
two however are never seen side by side on the same shoot. 
Every third node is without tendril or cluster. It would 
be a grave error, however, to suppose a vine capable of bring- 
ing to maturity as many bunches as it shows bunches of blos- 
som. The less work you give your vine, as a rule, and the 
better the work will be done,'and it is safer to restrict the crop 
to two clusters per shoot. Ordinarily, one will be as much as 
can be wisely allowed to remain. 

" As soon as the green shoot has changed its colour and 
turned brown, and the clusters growing immediately from 
it have been harvested, it receives the name of cane. It 
retains this name a whole year until the clusters have been 
gathered from its side branches when it becomes part of the 
stem. 

u TVe distinguish therefore in a grape vine the following 
three parts, viz : — 

"1. The shoot, of green colour grown this year (or season) 
from the eye, bearing the grapes immediately on the peduncle. 
Its course of life lasts about six months. 

"2. The cane, of brown colour and of smooth bark bearing 
the clusters on a side branch, the shoot. Its course of life is 
generally about a year or from the time of pruning until the 
vine is pruned again. 

" 3. The stem, of black colour, the bark separating from it, 
bearing the clusters with the shoot on tlje cane. Its course of life 
embraces the life time of the vine."- Mohr on "Vine Culture: 7 



11 THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 

The vine is therefore progressing regularly ; the shoot 
is changed to a cane, and the cane becomes part of the stem,, 
the stem enlarging more and more as the canes of the preceding 
year are added to it. Now, as the stem does not bear fruit, it 
follows that every year there is an increase of unproductive 
wood, which if permitted to continue, would in process of time 
take up all the space available and the production of fruit 
would cease. This renders it necessary to resort to artificial 
means to restrict on the one hand, the quantity of wood, and 
on the other hand, to secure along the entire length of the 
wood remaining, a constant succession of green shoots and bear- 
ino- canes for fruit. These means are training and pruning,, 
which we now proceed to consider : — 

By training we mean giving that form which, under the 
hand of the grower, the plant is made permanently to take. The 
common forms are, 1st — The Cordon ; 2nd — the Trellis — 
flat and horizontal; and, 3rd — the Standard. It is always 
difficult and not always wise to recommend a departure from 
established customs, and the different modes of training found 
to prevail in different localities or countries which may appear 
to be only the result of the whim or fancy of the cultivator have 
very often a sound reason to justify them. Each different system 
has its advantages and its advocates. We are all apt to think that 
those methods which are successful in our hands would be equally 
so in others. This by no means follows. Dr. Mohr, a German 
writer of eminence on grape culture, strongly recommends 
growing vines on the single cordon system. His. method is as. 
follows : At about ten feet from each other he plants, vines, all 
alono- his garden paths — setting them in about a foot,. Mid- 
way between each plant he pushes in a stout post, about three- 
inches square, to the depth of two feet, leaving eighteen; 
inches above ground. The end posts are stouter and sunk 
firmly. On these he stretches a galvanized wire, and to 
this he trains his vines. In addition to the beauty of this 
arrangement, the doctor gathered grapes that gave 30 gal- 
Tons of wine from 800 feet of wire. In view of the well 
known fact that grapes improve in quality the nearer they are 
grown to the ground, this method is well worthy of a fair trial 
by all grape growers who have room to make it. 

2nd. — There is no question that the flat trellis or arbor, 
the common method of training here, has its advantages — « t is 
#s good as most and better than some. In the first place,, 
there is very little difficulty in getting the canes to. break 



THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. ]?& 

regularly over the whole extent of surface. In the next, the. 
arrangement of the limbs in such order as shall secure an 
even distribution of the growing canes is reduced to a simple, 
process, The foliage gets the full benefit of the sun equally,, 
and the fruit being generally on the under side of the arbor, 
obtains the requisite shelter from the direct rays of the sun ; 
and lastly, the work of thinning the bunches can be performed 
at any part of the day without injury to the foliage. A very 
grave disadvantage is the difficulty of getting at the young 
shoots, for the purpose of disbudding, pinching back or tying 
out without doing serious mischief to the young growth, and,, 
another equal in gravity and more permanent in the mischief 
it does is that the shoots often get so thickly overgrown, 
that the sun's rays are entirely shut out and the canes, do not 
ripen properly ; good fertile buds are not formed, and the suc- 
ceeding crop, if not entirely lost, is seriously reduced. Where 
only one vine can be grown and the room, is restricted, this ; 
method has many things to be said in its favour. 

The horizontal trellis, that is, when the vine is grown on 
wires strained on upright posts, is a plan that admits of an al- 
most endless variety of form. It is the method most common- 
ly found in books that treat on the growth of vines in the open 
air. My advice is. to leave it there. As shewn in books, with 
its rows of bursting clusters, nothing can be better; but I never 
yet saw it succeed, My own attempts have all been failures. The 
difficulty of getting the buds to break on the lower canes, is next 
to insurmountable. Time and patience would, no doubt, over-. 
Qome it, but both time and patience have limits. Another 
method, and one which has not received the attention here, 
which its numerous advantages merit for it, is to grow the vine& 
as Standards, that is, to dispense with all mechanical support 
except a stout stick. The plan is to cut your one-year-old 
vine close to the ground, allowing the shoot from the bud to^ 
grow at will, running on the ground or upon the nearest plant 
or shrub at hand. When, it has made a good ripe cane as stout, 
say, as your little finger,, cut it back to within two or three 
buds, selecting the best bud for the uppermost, earth up to the. 
depth of three or four inches with good soil; in this a mass of 
rootlets will form, and let the new growth be trained to a slen- 
der stick standing five or six feet out of the ground. When 
this shoot has ripened, it may be cut back to from three to four 
feet from the level of the ground bending it somewhat to assist 
the lower buds to break, after which it may be tied to the sun-- 



16 Tiifc vi'Nfc Atfi) its ctii/rtriu^ 

port. There Will be no difficulty in keeping it at abdiit this 
height. From a A^ine so treated I have cut as many as twenty 
bunches. The advantages of this method are, first, that a 
greater variety of grapes can be grown than on any other; in the 
next place, a supply of grapes can be had for a longer period 
—the vines require no attention at any time which a lady may 
not give ; every part of the plant is at all times accessible, and 
the processes of pruning, disbudding, pinching back, tying in 
and thinning the clusters become the pleasant occupation of a 
few Spare moments instead of the tiresome dirty work of a 
whole day, as is the case With a neglected vine on a decaying 
arbor J and lastly, it is possible When the fruit is ripening 
to give it shelter from rain should it be desirable. These 
Various methods are all more or less matters of taste or con- 
venience, and a good rule to follow in selection of one or the 
other is to "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." 
This brings us to the question of pruning; and here we 
may state at the offset that we know no general principle 
which applied at all times and in every variety of circumstances 
will result successfully* There has been a great deal written, 
much of it wisely, by men of great practical experience, as to 
the comparative merits of short and long spur pruning and 
long pruning. Spur pruning is the method usually followed 
in England. Of these, there are two methods, viz., the close 
and the long spur — in the former the shoot is cut back close to 
the last bud ; in the latter, two, three or four buds are 
left. Some of the early Varieties which are, as a rule, less ro- 
bust than the later kinds, do well under close pruning. Others, 
however, are found at times to miss fruiting wholly or in part 
when so ruthlessly cut back. Some white sorts here do well 
pruned closely, black vines never. A better plan as well as 
more natural is, to obtain all the fruit the vine is capable of 
bearing from a few" canes trained to their full length instead of 
from a great number of spurs. To provide these, it is neces- 
sary to cut one-half of the canes back to one eye, these make 
canes to fruit the following year. The long canes that bear 
this year are next year cut back in a similar manner, and so 
year by year alternately. By this method the accumulation 
of old unsighthy wood is prevented, and the labour of pruning 
is reduced to a minimum. But whatever method may be fol- 
lowed, in every case the constitution and habits of the vine it- 
self must be taken into consideration, bearing always in mind 
that the object of pruning is ever the twofold one of obtaining 



THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 17 

fruit the present season, and the growth of mature canes for 
the following one. Each system aims at controlling the gene- 
ral form the vine is to take, limiting the crop taken oft 
within the capacity of the vine to mature. It is possible to 
overdraw the powers of a vine, and it is well to bear in mind 
that overdrafts on nature are like overdrafts elsewhere — they 
are debited against the account and must be paid with interest. 
Superfluous wood can be got rid of, and the whole energy of 
the vine directed to the production of good canes and fruit. 
Conservation of energy is ever an important point in plant life. 
The time of growth and ripening of the fruit is materially 
shortened, and finer fruit, more of it, and of a better quality is 
the result. 

Where the growth is overcrowded cut out enough to let 
in ample light and air. Leave as little as possible, that, if left 
will he useless. For a succession of canes for the next season, 
cut back to one eye and let the resulting shoot grow unre- 
strictedly. For fruit, prune the canes back to a good plump 
bud. If the cane is very long 7 let it hang down loosely until 
the buds break, and then secure it in the place where you in- 
tend it to remain. Give neither manure nor water until the 
buds shew, and then liquid manure in small quantities once 
or twice a week will do good. 

Many persons pay no attention to their vines after prun- 
ing. This is wrong. The moment the buds on a pruned vine 
begin to push, every cane should be carefully examined, and 
any overlooked lateral that may be shewing should be re- 
moved. Disbudding will also require immediate attention 
— this is rubbing off with the thumb and finger all su- 
perfluous and misplaced buds. If this is overlooked the 
shoots with blossom will be overcrowded and irreparably 
injured ; besides, there will be a serious drain on the vital 
forces of the plant just at the time when the heaviest 
legitimate demands are being made upon them. No vine can 
possibly be in health where the shoots form with the foliage a 
dense dark mass, through which no ray of light can pierce. 
No knife is required — the thumb and finger will do all that is 
needed. When the blossom has shown, and it can be seen 
what shoots will have fruit, it will be well to go very carefully 
over all the others and tie in such as promise to make good 
canes and are favourably placed. All else should be removed 
without delay. On such shoots as show blossom, if strong, 
with healthy leaves below the bloom, pinch one leaf beyond, 



18 THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 

If the foliage is defective it will be well to leave three or four 
leaves. On these shoots it will also be requisite to pinch the 
lateral back to one leaf and keep it so. Non-bearing shoots 
must be permitted to grow at will. 

By the time the fruit is set, that is getting say as large 
as a small pea, it will be time that the thinning should be seen 
to. To the new beginner this seems only a terrible waste. If 
you look, however, at a young cluster and remember that each 
one of these little berries, will, if you will allow it, develope into 
a grape one inch in diameter, you will see that less than half 
the number are more than enough to fill all the space the 
cluster can take. Some trees, as for instance, English cherry 
and our own mango, have the natural power of shedding sur- 
plus fruit. You cannot over-crop a mango — it will not allow 
you. The grape has no such power, and relief from the strain 
of over-cropping, must come from the hand of man. For this 
purpose a pair of fine pointed scissors should be obtained, 
with long handle, but short blades, cutting well at the points, 
and then the thinning be done without handling the bunch if 
possible. Gret well inside and cut out all the little berries, and 
then those that are crowded, especially taking out those that 
lie inside on the main stem. This will let in light 
and air, give the berries room to grow and repay you 
for all your trouble, in clusters of greater weight, greater 
beauty, and incomparably greater excellence , Young shoots 
should be trained over any cluster exposed to the sun's heat. 
So that warmth and air are not excluded, grapes are always 
better for shade. Bagging the fruit in muslin is a good 
protection from birds and wasps, besides improving the quality 
of the fruit. "Water may be given sparingly at this time to 
the roots, but, if possible, none should get near the clusters. 

One subject upon which I ought, perhaps, to have spoken 
earlier, is that of the propagation of the vine, and the best 
methods of planting it. The methods followed by some and re- 
commended, are legion. The point really is, how with the least 
delay to raise a good plant and get it into the soil under the 
most favourable conditions. We shall therefore speak only of 
those methods, that having tried, we can speak about with con- 
fidence. The readiest way of all, is that which is popularly 
known as layering. This ordinarily consists in making a 
shallow trench, from four to six inches deep, and the required 
length ; in this a ripe cane from an adjacent vine is pegged 
down but not covered. After a time buds break and several 



THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 19 

shoots appear ; those coming from the underside should be 
rubbed off, only those that break from the upper side being 
suffered to remain. Little by little the trench is filled up until 
it is quite full. In about ten or twelve weeks the cane may be 
severed from the present vine. At this time, it is w^ell to give 
the layer a little shade from the heat of the sun. In a week or 
ten days it can be^caref ully taken up and cut into as many plants 
as there are shoots, and be planted where they are intended to 
remain. A yet better plan is the one mentioned in the lecture 
on the orange by Dr. Neish, We mean layering by elevation. 
By inserting a suitable cane through the bottom of a flower 
pot, and filling with soil, a rooted plant can be obtained in a 
few weeks. We have now here one which was so treated in 
January. Another method, indeed, the method almost univer- 
sally followed, is by cuttings. In Australia they use cuttings 
five or six feet long. .Some plants of American varieties re- 
ceived by me lately were evidently raised from cuttings over 
20 inches in length. I do not like them. I prefer cuttings 
from short jointed canes, not more than two buds on each. I let 
each cutting rest on a bit of decayed wood and fill up to the 
second eye with clean sand. After the eye has made a shoot a 
few inches long, I add more sand, the result being that a mass 
of rootlets are thrown out, and I get practically my plant 
from a single bud which makes a good cane the first year. The 
second I do not cut down, I simply bend the cane nearly flat 
on the ground and a new stout growth is sent up from the root 
far stronger and healthier than if the cane had been severed. 

I have also raised and now have several healthy vines 
from seed. This is not a satisfactory method of raising old 
varieties, and an uncertain one if the hope of getting new and 
better ones is the motive. 

Lady Downe's seedling, a black grape of special excellence, 
and Foster's white seedling, a white grape, as its name indi- 
cates, were raised from seeds from the same bunch of grapes ; 
both are of first class quality, among the best in cultivation. 

Dr. Grant, of America, out of 5000 seedlings had only two 
worth preserving, the Iona and Isabella, and Dr. Siedhoff out 
of 500 seedlings had only one better than the parent vine. 

Equally important with obtaining a good variety is it that 
the aspect, soil and general surroundings should be congenial. 
The situation where, and the soil in which a vine is planted, have 
•much to do with determining its success or failure. An East- 
ern or South-eastern aspect is always the best. Nothing can 



20 THE VINE AND ITS CULTURE. 

make up for the loss of the influence of the morning sun. I 
know two vines in this city ; they are sister plants from the 
same mother vine — -they were planted at the same time, in the 
same garden, but one never sees the sun until afternoon, 
the other gets the full benefit of it. From the latter, a crop of 
over seventy bunches has just been cut, the other has never 
borne a grape. These vines are over five years old. 

The sunlight is essential for the health alike of roots and 
foliage. In planting, a stiff clay is to be avoided (although some 
of the best African vineyards are said to be on soil containing over 
50 °/ of clay), unless very well drained, and even then a dress- 
ing of coarse sand, old mortar and wood ashes would improve 
matters. One evil to be carefully avoided is the too common 
one of planting too deep. The vine is a greedy feeder, and 
wherever food is, if it be at all accessible, it will go for it. 
Naturally, however, the vine is a surface feeder, and so that 
you plant your vines out of the reach of danger from tools in 
digging the surface they are deep enough. The nearer the 
sun the better. Shallow soil, if of the right kind, will produce 
grapes of higher quality than a deep soil. The vine may be 
less vigorous, make less wood, be shorter jointed, the clusters 
may be smaller both in bunch and berry, but the fruit will 
mature two or three weeks earlier, and will be of much 
higher quality. 

In conclusion, this subject is one that ought just now to get 
more attention than it has yet received. It is not to be desired 
that any attempt should be made to enter the lists as a wine pro- 
ducing country; there is no hope of success. But with the immense- 
market for green fruits which is opening up in the States, 
and the rapid transit furnished by the several lines of steamers,, 
there is no reason why grapes should not, within a reasonable 
period, be added to the Jamaica exports. 



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